Overview
Chad Snyder recently joined the Walter P Moore Parking Group as a Senior Parking Consultant. With over 25 years of experience and hundreds of projects under his hard hat, he brings a wealth of knowledge and problem-solving abilities to the team. We sat down with Snyder to get to know more about this stock car racer turned AEC professional.
You joined the AEC industry in 1993. What interested you about engineering?
The thing that interested me most about the engineering field is the problem-solving opportunities it gives you. The ability to look at something and come up with different solutions to the same problem.
What exactly is a parking consultant?
A parking consultant provides solutions to parking challenges. For example: Do you need a garage or can you get by with another strategy to solve your parking challenges? If a garage is necessary, how many spaces are required? How big should it be? In the beginning, there is a lot of planning involved and as a project moves forward the details get more technical. Once it reaches a certain point, you start involving other disciplines and technology to facilitate the strategy.
What is the most interesting thing about working as a parking consultant?
The most interesting thing is seeing that every person has a unique challenge that they face. It’s very rare that one answer is the same exact answer for somebody else. Working with people; helping them solve their problems and creating solutions for them.
What brought you to Walter P Moore?
The thing that attracted me to Walter P Moore was the approach that they have toward developing an integrated solution. The technology that they use to be able to put them at the forefront of the industry. Probably the biggest thing is the people; the people I’ve met, talked to, and worked in tandem with on previous projects.
What are some of your favorite projects to be a part of?
Probably mixed-use design. Just the integration of all of the different people and needs that those people have. Sometimes they conflict with each other, so you have to develop the right solution for everyone.
How does what you do make a difference in the world?
Parking is often taken for granted. It’s the first thing people see when they arrive at a destination and the last thing they see when they leave. Often times if you have a bad parking experience that reflects a negative connotation — it doesn’t matter how great the destination is if the parking is bad. I think assisting owners in the development of the correct solution and helping them create an overall experience makes a huge difference.
Describe the most challenging project that you’ve worked on.
One of the most challenging projects I’ve worked on was the development and functional design of 20,000 parking spaces in a development. There’s a lot of different pieces to that — access, how you get in and out — it was very complex and challenging.
What do you consider to be your strengths in the industry?
One of my biggest strengths is that I’m well-rounded in my knowledge. I’ve always had opportunities to try new things in the industry and utilized those opportunities so that I can be more valuable, not only to myself but also the company I work for and ultimately the owner when they are developing parking solutions. Because of this knowledge, I am able to take projects from the beginning all the way to the end.
Describe your most successful project. What enabled you to achieve this success?
One of the most successful projects I’ve had, overall experience wise, was the ability to work with the same owner from the very beginning of the project: studies, what they needed it, where it should go, how it should be, working with city councils, developing presentations…all the way to the completion of an award-winning parking structure.
What is the most interesting technology that you have used on a project?
I think one of the biggest things in the industry, in general, is the development of Revit which has certainly made the design process much easier for everyone involved. PTV Visum, which is a traffic modeling software, allows us to develop models showing owners how mass parking solutions will work. Virtual Reality is the next large evolution; using that technology to help owners see how things will operate.
What do you want clients to know about you?
Because I like solving challenges, I look for all the different options that are out there. I not only provide you with what I think is the correct solution but all of them so we can work together to decide what the ideal solution is. That’s something that I strive to do as much as I can.
When you aren’t solving the world’s parking problems, what does your family do for fun?
We like to travel, go camping, and attend Monster Truck shows. A lot of times we just like to hang out together, but we try to stay as active as possible. In fact, my wife actually got me into running! We recently completed the Houston Half Marathon, Hot Chocolate Run, and for our anniversary in March, we are traveling to Charlotte, NC to participate in the BB&T Corporate Cup Half Marathon.
Tell us something interesting about yourself.
I used to race go-carts and stock cars for the first half of my life. I grew up as a young kid in Iowa racing and thought that was my whole life at the time. There weren’t a lot of things to do in Iowa, so on Friday and Saturday nights, that’s something people enjoyed doing. But eventually, I realized I couldn’t pay the bills with it. It was a lot of fun but I got older and had bigger ambitions.
Anything else?
In my experience here so far Walter P Moore is a great company. Everybody I’ve met has been great and I have nothing but high praises for the company itself. I think that reflects well on what they’ve grown, what they’ve done, and the leadership in the company right now.
